Airship and the like



R. H. UPSON .AIRSHIP AND THE LIKE Feb. 13, 1923..

Filed Dec.

ll etentedll elo. 13, 1923. I a

UNHT eras arenroseics.

RALPH H. UPSON, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GOODYEAR TIRE RUBBER COMPANY, OF AKRON, OHIO, A CORPORATION 01E OHIO.

AIRSHIP AND THE LIKE.

Application filed December 5, 1919. Serial No. 342,735.

To all'whom it may concern: the ballonets from either the blower 13 or a 55 Be it known that I, RALPH H. Urson, a scoop 20, as will be later explained more in citizen of. the United States, and resident detail. of Akron, Ohio, have invented new and uselhe conduit 19 vis preferably in the form 5 ful Improvements in Airships and the like, of a semicircular tubeand is located inteofwhich the following is a specification. l'iorly of the envelope in order that the air so My present invention relates to new and resistance of the balloon may be minimized. useful improvements in dirigible balloons, The scoop 20 is suspended from the envelope and has particular reference to the construcl and located immediately behind the. pro- 1o, tion of ballonets and. the air supplying appeller, (see Fig. 1), in order that the air paratus employed in connection therewith. current set up by the propeller will cause In the accompanying drawing, wherein a the passage of a volume of air through the practical embodiment of my present invenscoop 20 into the conduit. At the upper tio i illu trat d; end of the scoop 20 is located a pair of flap Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the balloon valves 21 which open inwardly and permit with certain interior parts of the balloon inthe air to pass from the scoop tube into the 70 1 dica'ted in dotted lines; conduit for subsequent passage into the bal- Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional lonets. These flap valves 21 are manually n d controlled from the pilots car, at will. A F 1g. 3 is a cross section on the line 3 partition 22, located across the manifold'19 f F g 1, between the two valves 21, divides the mani- '75 In general, the balloon shown in the acfold into two sections, for a purpose later companyin drawing comprises an envelope to be described. 10, a fuse age. 11 wherein are mounted a As thus far described, a current of air propelling engine 12, a blower 13, a water passes from the propeller into the scoop 20,

ballast tank 15 and a plurality of g'asolene through the scoop to the valves 21. Here 80 t k 16, I the a1r is stopped, unless the pilotdesires The specific construction of the fuselage to inflate either or both ballonets, whereand the arrangement of the various appaupon he will open, say, the valveto the front ratus contained therein form no part of my ballonet, which permits the air to enter the present invention, and the fuselage has been forward section of the manifold 19 and 85' illustrated in connection with the invention thence into the ballonet. When the desired only that a clear understanding of the impressure is obtained, the valve 21 is again proved construction and advantages thereof closed. The above description also applies may be clearly understood. to the rear ballonet, or both, as the case The necessary elevators and steering ma be. planes or rudders, together with the conhe foregoing description describes a trollers therefor, and suspension ropes for practical means for inflating the ballonets, the'fuselage, have been illustrated for the provided, of course, the engine is operating.

40 purposes of affording a clearer understand- Should the engine fail, however, other means ing of the present invention. a are necessitated if a prolonged flight is de As is well known, it is customary to prosired. To this end I employ the use of the vide dirigible balloons of the blimp type, following: with ballonets into which air'may be adi-An auxiliary manifold or conduit 24 is, in

ac mitted'at will for the purpose ofequalizing" this instance, secured to the envelope 10 the various gas pressures in the envelope, directly beneath the inner manifold 19, but whereby the envelope may be kept taut and on the outside of .the bag and communicates filled out to its proper conformation at all with the scoop 2Q at its forward end, being times. closed at its opposite end. It is to be under- 50 In the accompanying drawings I have stood, however, that both conduits may be shown two ballonets 17 and 18, located replaced either inside of-the bag, or on the spectively fore and aft of the envelope. outside, as may be desired. A cylindrical These two'ballonets are connected by a conhousing 25 is secured within an opening 26 duit through whichthe air is forced into provided in the lower surface of the maniof attachment and closure for acollapsible tube 27. The tube 27 is designed to be folded or coiled up within the housing 25 when not inuse and is held in such manner by a hinged dap 28 which is adapted to be swung out of place by means of a hand cord 29 secured to the cap. The free end of the collapsible tube 27 is designed to be fitted over the open end of the blower 13, when released and dropped from the housing 25.

The blower forces air into the collapsible tube 27 and through the auxiliary manifold 24to the valves 21, whereupon it-is transferred to the ballonets at will by proper manipulation of the valves. To prevent the passage of'air out through the scoop 20, a manually operated valve 30 is located within the scoop, adjacent the junction of the scoop with the auxiliary ,duct 24.

The ballonets 17 and 18 are arranged, as will be noted, in such a manner that when the air'pressure in the ballonets falls to a low point, the fabric formingthe ballonets will not fall to a position which would cause the air inlet ends of the main air conduit to be closed or clogged. In this connection it is to be noted that this is a feature-of particular importance, since the principal objection to the floating type of ballonet heretofore employed in blimp construe-- tion has been that when the pressure in the ballonets falls to a low point the fabric of the ballonets frequently closes over the inlet opening for the air. By the present construction of the ballonet 17, the greatest cross sectional area. of the ballonet is arranged distant from the end portions of the horizontal conduit 19, therefore, the mouth of this ballonet will be open and free for the passage of air under all conditions, as

. will be apparent. The construction of the ballonet 18 is such that it bulges forwardly and outwardly over the rear end of the conduit 19, as shown at 31. By virtue of this construction when the ballonet 18 collapses the forward 'end thereof folds over and around the rear end of the conduit 19, and leaves the inlet opening thereto unobstructed.

It will beunderstood, of course, that my present invention is concerned principally with the arrangement of the ballonets 17 and 18, the manner in which the air is fed thereto, and the means by which this feeding of the' air is accomplished, and does not concern at all the specific construction of the envelope or the elevators therefor, nor the rigging by which the fuselage is suspended fromtheenvelope, nor the construction nor design of the fuselage, nor of any of the contained-parts thereof. v v

Although I have shown and specifically described but a single application of my 1nvention, it is obvious that other applications may be found therefor and minorchanges made in the construction thereof without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention and I desire, therefore, that no limitations shall be imposed except such as indicated-in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

' 1. The combination-with the gas bag of a balloon, of a main conduit arranged in the lower interior part of the gas bag, ballonets disposed in the gas bag and connected to the end portions of the said main conduit, an auxiliary conduit arranged on the exterior of the gas bag and connected with-the main conduit, a blower, and a tube connectiblefto said blower and said auxiliary conduit.

2. The combination'with the gas bag of the gas bag and connected with the vmain conduit, a blower, a tube connectible to said blower and said auxiliary conduit, and a scoop connected to said auxiliary conduit and having its mouth'disposed adjacent the propeller of the balloon.

3. The combination with the gas bag of a balloon, of a main conduit arranged in the lower part of the gas bag, ballonets disposed in the gas bag and connected to the end portions of the said main conduit, an auxiliary conduit arranged on the exterior of the gas bag and connected with said main conduit, a blower, a collapsible tube connectibleto said blower and said auxiliary conduit, and a scoop connected to said auxiliary conduit and having its mouth disposed adjacent to the propeller of the balloon.

4. The combination with the gas bag of a balloon, of a main conduit arranged 1n the lower part of the gas bag, ballonets disposed in the gas bag and connected to the end portions of the said main conduit, an auxand having the other .end thereof connectible to the outlet of said blower.

5. The combination with the gas bag of a lower partof the gas bag, ballonets disposed in the gas bag and connected to the end ortions of the said'main conduit, an auxiliary conduit arranged on the exterior main conduit, said auxiliary conduit being provided with an opening, and a scoop conballoon, of a main'conduit arranged in the of the gas bag and connected with the said nected to said auxiliary conduit, said scoop having its mouth disposed adjacent to the propeller of the balloon.

duit alsoarranged interiorly of the bag and connected with said main conduit, a blower,

a collapsible tube connectible to said blower and said auxiliary conduit, and a scoop connected to said main conduit and said auxiliary conduit and having its mouth disposed adjacent to the propeller of the balloon.

7. The combination with the gas bag of a balloon, of a conduit arranged in the lower part of the gas bag, ballonets connected to the ends of the conduit and disposed respectively at the, nose and stern of the ballonet, and means exbodying a gas bag, a propeller, and an air ballonet for controlling the inflation pressure terior of the gas bag for passing air into said conduit, said ballonets bein arranged with their greatest cross sectiona area dis posed distant from the connection to the said conduit.

8. The combination with a balloon embodying a gas bag, a propeller, and a plurality of air ballonets for controlling the inflation pressure of the balloon, of an air scoop communicating with said ballonetsv and adapted to receive air for inflating said ballonets from the .air stream of the proeller an auxiliar device communicatin with said ballonets and adapted to suppl air thereto, and means common to sai scoop and said auxiliary air supply for selectively controlling the supply of air to the respective ballonets; I

9, The combination with a balloon embodying a gas bag, a propeller, and an air ballonet for controlling the inflation pres sure of the balloon, of an air scoop communicating with said ballonet and adapted to receive air for inflating said ballonet from the air stream of the propeller, and an auxiliary air supply adapted to be connected to said ballonet.

10. The combination with a balloon embodying a gas bag, a propeller and an air ballonet for controllingthe inflation pressure of the balloon, of an air scoop communicating with said ballonet and adapted to receive air for inflating said ballonet from the air stream of the propeller, a blower,

means for connecting the blower to the ballonet, and means for closing the communication with said air scoop during the supply of air to said ballonet from the blower.

11. The combination with a balloon cmofthe balloon, of an air scoop communicating with said ballonet and adapted to supply air thereto from the air stream of i v RALPH H. UPSON.

Witnesses:

PHILIP E. BARNES, J. E. KEATING. 

